Blogs

Featured Entries

Some good winds between Christmas and New Year here in SEQ. Decided to dust the cobwebs off the buggy and get the bearings turning.
Running Sysmic 2 Buggy with Midi XL tyres.
Kite- Ozone Edge V8 with 24m lines.
Location - Skirmish Point Bribie Island (Beach)

Today, Extreme Kites releases a World Kite Records section that allows us to look at the past whilst stepping in to the future.
The new World Kiting Records section is fully uniform with drag & drop uploads for your GPS images and optional GPS data. It's fully searchable with a set of filters allowing you to really drill down in to the information that has set each record. You can filter to find out whom the fastest pilots in your country are, perhaps you want to know what the top speed set on a GT-Race buggy is? Even better, what about finding out the top speed set on Discs with a Peter Lynn Vapor? All of this and more is either possible today, or within the next month as more information gets added to the database.
Previously we've all been limited to records being maintained in Wiki's, Forum Threads and Personal Blogs. The one thing that all of these inherited was that they are all up to an individual to maintain whether it was here in our Community or elsewhere. Instead we've built a system so that there's a whole team from today and forever in to the future maintaining a database of peoples' personal achievements.
This is just the beginning, last year we went through a whole site redevelopment explaining after years we had to finally take two steps back to be able to move forwards and bring you the type of online experience we wanted. We did this by launching the new website, then following on with sections like Blogs, Reviews etc. The Kite Buggy Speed section is just the first, over the coming weeks we'll include more sections along with other kiting disciplines like Landboarding, Kiteboarding, Kite Skates and Snowkiting. We aim over time, as a team to build the most comprehensive, searchable database of World Kiting Records available.
Kind Regards,

For the next few months i trundled about in my faithfull buggy
Gaining confidence and enjoying every minute.
even got confident enough to powerslide a few times.
A wide axle would be great but not enough room to transport it..
the alternative was to fly slightly underpowered or get used to the bug stepping out
and learn to control it.
The second option was the one i took.
I am never going to be the best buggier in the uk ,probably not the best in my town but i could now powerslide and control the bug when it stepped out of line
so i was pretty pleased with myself
one particular saturday a few months back ,i had the day to myself
had it all planned ,up early , out to my local flying field and a full day of fun
oops spoke to soon !!!
wind was between 15-20 mph
up went melonman , bags of power
big grins , even bigger spins
then ooohh shiit ......
one powerslide to many
I assume the axle bolt came loose and one big gust and i almost had a crab buggy
At the time i thought i dealt with it quite well , but then the reality of what could of gone wrong with a powered up kite and a dodgy wheel.
I am now a bit more carefull and check my bug over after each outing
i also tend to fly a little under powered now as well
i may not break speed records ,but also i may not break my neck.
the speed would be great if i had bigger spaces , but in small areas the small light bug works well
and 20mph feels like 50

The buggy seemed so much easier to get used to than a board.
only had to concentrate on kite and steering not the dreaded balance as well.
it all came together fairly quickly and i was loving it .
making the most of my limited flying time with the bug and static flying the rest of the time.
the more i used the bug the more i realised how cramped i was and how bad the seat was.
i wonder if i could get hold of an extension for the downtube ?
Back to the forums ,yes they were available but rare and various reviews.
I wonder if i can have one made ? Enter stainless Dave a guy who does stainless magic were i work.
no problem says he, 2 days later my downtube has an extra 100mm on it.
this made all the difference to my cramped legs but really messed up the tow point on the bug (at this point i had no idea what this meant )
but basically it was a lot more difficult to get moving and because of the terrible seat it was not easy to move my weight around in the bug to help.
lots more hours in the buggy lots more smiles.
WANTED : SEAT UPGRADE FOR PL BUGGY
this might help
then out of the blue ,a fellow kiter who i now class as a friend also, said i have an old buggybags seat in my garage ,its off an old buggy but should do the job
he got a new one with his PL hybrid
the deal was done
the buggy was now in my opinion the muts nuts
to some it may still apear to be scrap but it taughtme a lot and got me further into this sport
the story continues .......

When i got the new shiny pl bug home and had chance to give it a look over , i realised it had issues !!
the seat was a mess , the axle was bent , i guess from the bug being jumped and the front wheel was a barrow and by that i mean off a wheelbarrow , no bearings just
a spacer running on an axle bolt.
But not one to be beaten i gave it a once over and decided to give it a go
Thats my Dad in the bug
The dog didnt come with the buggy either.
i will try and find some better pics.
The buggy did exactly what it says on the tin.
it got me rolling , not very comfortably admittedly but rolling none the less.
it was a little cramped and the seat was abismall
but it was mine

As you may of realised by reading this blog i dont like/or have buckets of money to spend.
so off to ebay for a buggy search.
needed something small that would be easy to transport/breakdown/buildup , but i also needed something that would support a guy who is partial to the odd pie !!
peter lynn or flexifoil seemed to be the buggy of choice,small light and good for small spaces.
no point in having a cruising buggy when you aint got no were to cruise.
checked out the forums and put a few wanted posts on,such as cheap ,light weight buggy wanted.
And as sure as god made little green apples ,i had numerous replies offering everything from v max , upto some of popye the welders fantastic machines
all telling me how good i would look and feel after i had parted with £500 plus.
i even got into some heated online discussions about what i needed and wanted.
A couple of guys came back with positive sensible advice and they were not trying to sell me anything either.
one guy had and still has a peter lynn xr i believe and said as long as you take it for what it is it will do fine, i think he still has the xr for when he is to old to still go on the water.
the other guy assured me that a flexi or pl would be fine for my frame as he had a flexi and at 6ft 5 who am i to argue with him.
After much searching a pl buggy came up on ebay only 20 miles away from me.
it was battered,the seat was torn and the axle was bent but for £34 it was mine.
It was probably worth more for scrap value.

I had a go with the R1 today, 11m, I would have preferred to start on the 6 or 8m and build up - but what a kite! And what potential, I got nowhere near unleashing it as I felt overpowered and wasn't confident enough to really let it rip.

But Andy from http://www.max-vmgracing.com/ is getting an 8 at the end of the week and may get a 6 as well - so hopefully I will get to play some more...

Now there's a job I'd like to have. El Presidente of Selleys. If you're not from Aus, you may or may not have heard of Selleys. They make glues, fillers etc...stuff like this:
But they could be so much more!! I am continually inventing products that Selleys should be selling. Ever been to a party or gathering where a particular person just won't SHUT UP?? Easy, a quick spray with Selley's No More Blab, and peace and quiet will return. And when you know the shit is about to hit the fan, how bout a quick spray of Selley's Chrono Fix, and voila! time has stopped - giving you an infinite amount of time to either fix stuff or get the hell out of Dodge. I'm still working on the 'reverse time formula' which I'll call Xif onorhC s'yelleS but I'm not actually convinced that time can, in fact, be reversed. My paddocks at home could certainly use a spray of Selley's No More Bumps. Selley's Wife Duplicator spray for when the housework starts piling up. And Selley's That was Just A Joke, for when she reads this. Selley's Beach Clear, for when you want the whole beach to yourself. The possibilities are absolutely endless and could make this the worlds largest company. To be honest, I just sprayed the keyboard with Selley's Blog Entry and this is the crap that came out. Now, where did I put that can of Selleys Problem Solvent.....

A while ago my shifts changed at work and i was dreading it.
12hr days and nights what a drag.
but then i realised the benefits !
working a 24/7 shift pattern meant days off during the week so i could spend time with my better half ,but then getting
every other weekend off which was when my other half was working
VOILA ,12 hrs kiting
But then it got better ,my wife changed jobs and was working only a short distance from home.
Why dont you drop me at work and then you can use the car she says.
i dont want to mess you around i say
its up to you she says
DONE DEAL
so now i could go further afield to play
Then i got to thinking , 12hrs every 2 weeks , could i justify a buggy ?

Well i had another session with the brooza last week in a constant smooth wind,what a difference!!
the kite behaved perfectly,plenty of power and stable as well.
this goes to show how much difference flying areas can make.
It also proves how good the npws are at dealing with not so good flying conditions.
I am happy the brooza has proved its worth and so my education continues.

A while back I had my Garmin eTrex H stolen out of my car so I have been unable to accurately measure my speed.
The other day I rememberd that we still had a Magellan Explorist GC from when we used to go geocaching so this is now strapped to the buggy...

iPhones & iPads are some of the most popular items used for interacting with Extreme Kites. This tutorial will focus on how easy it is to upload multiple images at once from your iPad, and very similarly your iPhone.
After pressing "Start New Topic," or "Reply to this Topic" of any page the editor appears.
1) Press/Tap "Click to Choose Files. 2) Select/Tap the Album your files are in. 3) Select/Tap which photos you want to upload, you can choose multiple at once by simply tapping them. 4) The files will now upload, you can either press "Submit Entry" or you can choose the little [+] sign to choose where you want to position the images.
The same principles as above can be used when uploading multiple images to your own Gallery or Blog as well.

Most years i spend my winter in Port Douglas, when the wind stops i then make my way down the east coast to spend summer catching the wind in the southern parts of Australia.
Here is a video we put together while travelling down the east coast last year.

I met Ben from IKON: http://www.ikon-kiteboarding.com a few years ago and he introduced me to LEIs. Because LEIs hold their shape relaunching is so much easier and I hardly ever have to get out of the buggy. I can now spend my entire session flying; I have not looked back and am actually starting to get good at it (well, I think so...).
A couple of years ago, Ben contacted me and asked me if i wanted to be on the IKON team, i never believed i could be good/noticed enough to achieve something like that, I was stoked! See my profile page: http://www.ikon-kiteboarding.com/team/local-riders/oceania/rob-lukin.html
Im also sponsered by Fix My Kite: http://fixmykite.com.au who supply me with repair stuff, cause im allways breaking shit!

Hello. My name is John and I have a problem. Well addiction really. Sort of. When I was a young boy, I loved torches. They were shiny, they conquered the dark and kept the evil ones at bay. You could shine the torch up to the sky and scale the beam of light. Ooops, no, that was from a poem I wrote called Alberto the Dinosaur, but I won't go into that just now. I've seen other children - usually boys - fascinated by torches in the supermarket. 'Daaad, PLEASE!!! I WANIT!!!' I was like that. I wanted just about every torch (flashlights in the US?) I ever saw. Problem is, I still do. I submit for your attention exhibit A:
My staple camping lights for many years were the Petzl Zoom and the mini mag light. Dependable and well loved torches. There were a bunch of TeknaLights too, a few Pelicans all now gone to that great big light in the sky. And let's not forget the quest to own the most powerful torch I could. The 6D Maglight is still there on the right (although that tiny little thing next to it is actually a brighter and more versatile light - I kid you not). I had the 8D cell King Pelican lantern too that chewed through sets of batteries and bulbs. All made to look like pathetic candle power next to the average LED torch these days.
The advancement in LED technology is truly staggering. Several years ago I bought a rechargeable light from the local electronic place - 150 Lumens and 3 brightness levels. WOW!! What the heck is a Lumen? I hear you ask. 1 candle power is equivalent to 12.57 Lumens. You should learn that off by heart should you ever be on a quiz show. And while we're talking of questions you may get asked on quiz shows, 'Suicide is Painless' is the actual title of the theme tune to M.A.S.H. - Don't say I never tell ya anything.
Were was I? Oh, yeah - advancement. The 6D Maglight only has something like 30 to 50 Lumens and dims rapidly. Most LED lights usually have a circuit built in so you get the full, mind shredding 150 Lumens till the end. Then they suddenly shut off. Or did. Manufacturers quickly realized that this was perhaps not the brightest idea they had and started adding things like flashing switches or pulsating light or switch into lower mode when the batteries start to fade. Seriously, that tiny, weeny thing next to the big Maglight on the right puts out over 200 Lumens and laughs at the Maglight's dead corpse. (figure of speech, the Maglight does still work). The one with the red band around the lens puts out about 1000 Lumens and does spotlight duty for me most nights checking the lambs and looking out for foxes. Easily bright enough to spotlight with. The one with 2 red switches has about 5 different lighting levels, 3 flashing modes and runs off normal AA batteries. A quick check online will show that a lot of companys now have torches with 3000 - 5000 lumen outputs. That's a huge leap in a few short years. It's not all about Lumens though - how big is the reflector, how far will it throw, is it a floody light or a thrower?
By now you're thinking, yep, he's addicted alright. A truly lost cause. I thought that too, but then I found the Candlepower forum and realized that my perceived addiction was in fact a grain of sand on a huge beach. A lot of guys on the candlepower forum can tell you every specification of the light/output/color temperature etc etc that you could possibly imagine.
And yet, I still want more!! I want a 3000 lumen torch. Oh the POWER!!!! And I don't have a decent UV torch. And I need some red filters for my astronomy stuff. (A few of those homemade looking things are, in fact, cobbled together with red led's and various resistors - the sum total of my electronics knowledge.
So there it is. Addicted to lights. And Kites. I suppose there's a lot worse things I could be addicted to.
Must order that UV torch this week - it has 5 white brightness levels (400 Lumens white), a 3000mW UV led plus a set of tricolor Red/Blue/Green Leds. How could you possibly say no to that?

Facebook and Twitter are two of the internet's juggernauts, chances are you probably already have an account with one of them. We've made using your existing Facebook or Twitter account to login to Extreme Kites as simple as 1 click!
New Users Click Here and choose Facebook or Twitter.
Existing User read below to enable Facebook and Twitter logins with your account!
New Users Click Here to Login or use the Login Link at the top of the page, then click on either Facebook or Twitter. That's it you're done and now you have a new account on Extreme Kites. You can login anytime in the future just by clicking Facebook or Twitter on the Login Screen.
Existing Users If you're already a Member of Extreme Kites then it's just as easy to enable Facebook or Twitter login. Either browse to your Account Settings or use one of the links below.
Click Here to add Facebook.
Click Here to add Twitter.
Once you've selected either Facebook or Twitter from the above links now just click the Login Bar, and that's it!
Advanced Options You can choose to sync your Status Feed, Profile Picture and Cover Photo direct from Facebook or Twitter with the advanced options. When you update your Profile Picture or Cover Photo on Facebook or Twitter it will update your profile here on Extreme Kites as well.